Step device for playground equipment



June 30, 1953 HQY 2,643,809

STEP DEVICE FOR PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT Filed Oct. 31, 1951 ZSnventor zQOBEET d H0) g Jim attorney ?aiented June 30, 1953 STEP DEVICE EoE PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT Robert J. Hoy, North Hollywood, Calif.

Application October 31, 1951, Serial No. 254,154

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in playground equipment and deals more particularly with a step device provided on vertical members of such equipment to aid children reaching elevated elements such as flying rings, swinging bars, etc.

When flying rings, swinging bars, etc. are too high off the ground for smaller children to reach, they resort to climbing the standards or supports for such rings and bars. Since said standards are usually formed of pipe, such climbing is difficult and hazardous because they do not provide a proper foothold when climbing. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide such standards with one or more step devices that afiord footholds and facilitate climbing thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved step device that will surely retain its operative position on a standard.

Another object of the invention is to provide a step device that is resilient and is preferably formed of rubber to obviate abrasions or like injuries to those using the same because children, particularly, may not use due care when climbing and will frequently slip. Thus, the present step device is characterized by safety.

The invention also has for it objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention'also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. However, the drawing merely shows and. the following description merely describes one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a top plan view, partly in section, of a step device according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational View thereof, partly in section.

In the drawing, th pip 5 is intended as rep- 7 resenting a post, standard, or the like, the same being typical of a support for gymnastic or playground equipment such as flying rings, swinging bars, etc. It is contemplated that one or more of such posts or standards be provided with at least one step device 6 depending on th height above the ground of the rings or bars above mentioned. The drawing shows one such device identical and suitably spaced on from the other.

The step device '6 that is illustrated comprises a length of rubber hose I trained around post 5 so that the ends 8 thereof are somewhat spaced substantially as shown, a length of wire 9 strung through the hollow of hose 7, and a metal ring so connecting the ends of wire 9 and spanning the space between the ends of the hose.

In practice, the length of wire 9 is such that the same is trained against the inner wall of the hose to bind the latter against post 5. Thus, the hose cannot revolve on its own curved axial center but has a limited resiliency or flexibility relativ to wire 9. The latter has one end ll formed as a loop engaging ring it). The other end i2 is initially open as at iii to receive ring it and the same is adapted to be formed into a ring-confining loop as shown, while drawing wire g tightly to clamp hose i.

It will be clear that wire 9 can be drawn suinciently tight to compress the rubber material of the hose and thus provide against accidental slippage. As additional insurance against slippage of the step thus provided, a collar of a binder such as paint may be applied to the post above and/or below the step so that some of this paint may serve to bind the outer surface of the hose to the post, the paint also creating a larger diameter immediately below the hose that resists downward slippage.

Ring it is preferably of the elongated type so that elongation of the same is minimized.

As shown in Fig. 2, a wrapping M of tape, such such as friction tape, provides post 5 with a nonmetallic outer layer or coating to which the step is applied. The paint above mentioned seals said wrapping and interbinds the same to the hose. The wrapping has some compressibility that cooperates with the compressibility of the material of the hose to create a bond assuring retention of the step in operative position.

While the invention that has been illustrated and described is now regarded as the preferred embodiment, the construction is, of course, subject to modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modification that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l. A step device for a post element, said device comprising a length of tubular resilient and flexible material substantially encircling the post element, a length of bendable metal having a cross-section substantially smaller than the passage in th tube and disposed within the tube passage and having ends extending beyond the ends of said tube, and means to connect the ends of the length of metal to draw the same tightly against the wall portion of the tube that is engaged with the post element to, thereby, draw said wall portion tightly around the post element, the remaining wall portion of said tube extending laterally outward from the length of bendable metal to constitute a downwardly and inwardly flexible and resilient annulus.

2. A step device according to claim 1 in com- 15 ,3 09

bination with a wrapping of friction tape around the post element and against which the firstmentioned wall portion of the length of tubular material is clamped by the length of metal.

ROBERT J. HOY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 496,509v Caplis May 2, 1893 1,901,377 Roe Mar. 14, 1933 2,213,628 Files et a1 Sept. 3, 1940 Morris Jan. 2, 1945 

